With the launch of Amber's Blood fast approaching, indie Swedish developer MDNA Games has released a playable demo for Carol Reed's eighth adventure.

This time around, Carol's longtime friend Stina has an accident while investigating a curious discovery about her grandfather's death. According to an obituary, apparently he didn't die until many years later than she was led to believe. Now injured, she asks Carol to look into the matter further, and like any good amateur detective, Carol gladly accepts. But what she finds is that "Stina's family history is darker and more twisted than either Carol or Stina could ever have imagined."

The demo takes place right at the start of the game, with an optional tutorial available before launching into the adventure proper. There are several places to download the nearly 100 MB sampler, with links listed at the official website.

If you think it's a crime that iOS owners got to play Law & Order: Legacies first, justice has finally prevailed today with the release of the first three episodes for PC and Mac.

Unlike other Law & Order games before it, Telltale's Legacies represents a who's who of stars over the years, even crossing over between television shows. As you investigate a series of crimes "ripped from the headlines" here, you'll get to join favourites like Mike Logan, Lennie Briscoe and Rey Curtis on the streets of New York City, then take to the courtroom with District Attorney Jack McCoy, or branch out with Olivia Benson from the Special Victims Unit.

Law & Order: Legacies will include seven episodes all told, with the first three games available now for download with a full season purchase for $19.99 directly from Telltale. There is no firm release schedule for the remaining four episodes, but a season's purchase will grant instant access to each new installment as they become available.

If you'd rather play Law & Order: Legacies on the go, the first four episodes are available for the iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch at the App Store, with an episode one purchase required and a variety of in-app options offered for the remaining episodes.

There's nothing like a little home cooking, and a new indie venture called the AGS Bake Sale is serving up a tasty smorgasboard of 14 different games for charity.

Not all the games in the bundle are adventures, but they are all made with the Adventure Game Studio engine responsible for the likes of Gemini Rue and the Blackwell series. The 14 games are all brand new, created to raise money for Child's Play, a charity that provides toys and games to sick children in over 70 hospitals around the world. Notable adventures include the likes of 9 Months In, Abner The Amazing, and Ben Chandler, Paranormal Investigator - In Search Of The Sweets Tin.

Just how much a bundle like this is worth is pretty much up to you, and the AGS Bake Sale is being offered on a "pay what you want" basis. There's a minimum charge of $1.50 to cover administration, but there's no obligation to pay more than that... unless you actually care about sick children, that is (ahem!). All proceeds above and beyond the minimum cost will be donated directly to Child's Play.

To pick up the AGS Bake Sale bundle, and to learn more about the games included, head on over to the official website. Don't wait too long, though, as the sale will only run until February 29th.

If you've been wishing upon a star for a new Samorost-like adventure, your wish has come true, as indie developer Forgotten Key's The Shine of a Star is now available for download.

With a story conveyed exclusively through animation and sound, this point-and-click adventure casts players in the role of a star who's lost and alone in the woods after falling to Earth, and must now overcome a variety of obstacles in order to find a way home.

The Shine of a Star is available now at a budget price of only $3.95 or €3.99 exclusively at The Adventure Shop.

Note: Adventure Gamers is an Adventure Shop affiliate.

There's a new comic adventure game now in production, though it will take a while to emerge, as Studio Fizbin's The Inner World is burrowing its way towards release sometime next year.

In a round hollow space deep within the earth lives a very peculiar nation of stripe-nosed Asposians. Nearly everything in Asposia is driven by the holy winds of the gods, but recently all of the sacred windwells have become still except one. Now "wind is becoming ever more scarce, the tiny flying Fosfos that illuminate Asposia hardly bestow their warming light anymore and the end of The Inner World seems unstoppable. Amidst this vortex of events, the simple court musician Robert – suddenly and unintentionally – holds the entire fate of the world of the winds in his hands."

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As seen in the game's initial screenshot, The Inner World is a 2D third-person cartoon adventure with distinctive hand-drawn artwork. Designed "in the style of LucasArts adventures, but in a brand new guise", players control the flute-nosed Robert through this inner world of "clumsy, bizarre characters".

The Inner World is a planned episodic series due to be released initially on the App Store next year, with a PC version to follow. The game will be released in the developer's native German first, but according to producer Elke Daniels, an English-language version is intended for later in 2013.

Now we know for sure that Deponia looks like trash, which we mean in the nicest possible way, as you'll see in the first trailer for the upcoming comic adventure by Daedalic.

Deponia is named after the garbage-covered planet on which it's set, where a rather detestable character named Rufus can only dream of a better life in the wealthy floating cities in the sky. But his dream may just become reality when a beautiful woman named Goal plunges to the planet's surface. Rufus soon learns that he is "a dead ringer for Goal’s upper-class husband", and so he hatches an unscrupulous plan that begins "a wild chase across Deponia full of twists, turns and mystifying mix-ups."

In one of the "most unusual love stories in gaming history", Rufus's journey is guaranteed to be a bumpy ride, as the teaser amusingly suggests. It also displays the game's distinctive hand-painted art style and cartoon animation, all presented in widescreen format. The full adventure promises a "unique game world in the style of Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and Matt Groening. From Kuvaq, an improvised village built inside a giant trash heap, to the swimming black market and the dark corners of the elevated planetary railways."

There is no firm release date for Deponia just yet, but the game is currently scheduled for launch in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand sometime in the second quarter of 2012. For more details in the meantime, be sure to check out the official website.

Some news you just want to sing from the mountaintops, like the first trailer for The Ballads of Reemus: When the Bed Bites, a new comic fantasy adventure due later this month.

Based on the popular freeware series The Several Journeys of Reemus, the new game marks the first commercial outing for Reemus the exterminator and his purple bear sidekick Liam. The only way to get noticed in the town of Fredricus is through song, but Reemus is stuck in the shadow of his dragon-slaying brother, and his own exploits so far have "resulted in fire, flooding and massive property damage. Not exactly the most heroic tales to win over a crowd." Conquering a troublesome house fly should finally give him the stage he seeks, but the town is "too distracted to listen. Now Reemus and Liam must saddle up and embark on a quest to restore order to Fredricus and refocus the townsfolk’s attention back to where they need it, on them!"

The first trailer offers an early glimpse of the game's charming cartoon art style and bizarre environments, and gives a pretty good idea of what the townsfolk think of Reemus (short version: not much). The full game offers a chance to "sludge through swamps, barter with merchants, fly with birds, tunnel into underground lairs and battle giant insects" across more than 40 hand-drawn locations, meeting just as many unique characters along the way. The game will also feature full voice acting and an original musical score, plus optional side quests and achievements to complement its many traditional puzzles.

The Ballads of Reemus: When the Bed Bites is due for release on January 27th at the official website, available in both a digital-only version that can be downloaded or played online, or in a Collector's Edition bundle complete with boxed version, a Reemus T-shirt, soundtrack, and other goodies. Pre-orders are available now, which will allow early access to the game. See the website for complete details.

The ever-expanding community of adventure developers has reached Iran, as indie developer RSK Entertainment has announced the completed production of Murder in Tehran's Alleys 1933, with a fantasy adventure named Forgotten Sound to follow soon.

Murder in Tehran's Alleys 1933

A series of brutal and frightening killings has gripped the city of Tehran in 1933. Tortured before being cut to pieces, the victims are innocent children living downtown, and there seems to be no clear motive behind the murders. With the media fuelling public hysteria against the government's inability to protect them, it's up to detective Afshar to solve the case with help from a journalist named Sarsolooki, who believes there's much more to the killings than the random violent acts of a madman.

As seen in the work-in-progress gameplay trailer, the third-person point-and-click adventure features a realistic 2.5D art style with hand-painted cinematics patterned after classic 20th century detective novels. Murder in Tehran's Alleys 1933 promises to include 65 backgrounds across 18 different locations, with 22 characters to interact with, two difficulty settings and mutiple endings to fill out its 7-plus hours of game time. There is no firm release schedule yet, but RSK is currently pursuing international publishing options, hoping to distribute the game on DVD sometime in 2012.

Clearly not resting on their laurels, the developers are already hard at work on their next adventure, Forgotten Sound. Music has been forbidden in Sound Shine City since the queen died, but some are prepared to rebel. Shahbaz, the prince of Sound Shine, seeks to play a magical musical instrument, but the strings are broken, and he must journey to distant lands to find more.

Also a third-person adventure, Forgotten Sound features a much more stylized artistic approach, as befits its fantasy setting. The game has been in production for many months, and RSK is hoping to complete the game in March, with distribution options still to be determined at that time.

Braaaaaaaiiiinnns..... Adventure games have always required brains, but the notion takes on a whole different meaning in the newly released indie adventure Metal Dead.

In the debut installment of a "planned series of comedic, heavy metal influenced, apocalyptic point'n'click adventure games" by two-man developer Walk Thru Walls Studios, a couple of metal-heads crash their car in front of a medical building in the midst of a zombie invasion. Now trapped, they are forced to "use their wits to puzzle their way to freedom. Along the way, they must deal with a cast of characters who range from mildly deranged to completely insane."

As seen in the trailer, there is no shortage of blood and brain-eating mayhem in Metal Dead (whoops, should've warned you sooner!), but it's all done in fun comic style. Although intended to be an ongoing series, the developers are promising a full-fledged adventure right away, with over 40 rooms to explore, 17 unique characters to interact with, a built-in hint system, 13 achievements, and 5-7 hours of gameplay.

For more details about Metal Dead, including links to purchase the game for less than $5, head on over to the official website.